Roy Keane has hardly kept his counsel since coming in for heavy criticism in Sir Alex Ferguson's score-settling autobiography, but there is more to come.

The Ireland assistant manager is close to signing a deal to write his second book, having last published one in 2002, and his former manager just might get a mention...

Keane had a wasted journey last week when he travelled to Hull v Stoke to scout Paul McShane but the defender remained on the bench throughout.

Said McShane afterwards: "I hope he watched me in the warm-up. I was brilliant in the warm-up."

POOR SHO

Ever wondered what Shola Ama, the British R&B singer who had a massive hit in 1997 with You Might Need Somebody, is doing the days?

The answer is replying to Tweets from Newcastle fans who see her handle @sholaama and confuse her with the Magpies' Shola Ameobi.

Recent examples include "well done for winning that pen yesterday, we all know you would have buried it though", "good luck at the World Cup!" and the brilliant "any chance of a retweet for my mate? He loves your work, especially that scissor kick you scored past the Mackems. #hero."

BOOK WORM

There is a good novel in the shameful shenanigans at Cardiff City - just don't ask Bond villain owner Vincent Tan for permission to write it.

The club commissioned a book on their 2012/13 promotion campaign earlier this year and once produced it inevitably featured glowing tributes to players, Malky Mackay and go Tan himself.

Alas it also briefly mentioned the controversy over the owner's decision to change the club's colours and after Tan saw the offending paragraphs the entire project was scrapped.

The Malaysian billionaire appeared to expand his vocabulary at Anfield on. Saturday. When supporters began a loud chorus of "Vincent Tan is a ****", he could be spotted in the directors' box asking an aide for an explanation... and looking shocked when he got one!

(Photo: Getty Images)

"YOU GOTTA KNOW WHEN TO..."

Students of Vincent Tan's business methods are unsurprised to see him so eager to airbrush Malky Mackay out of history at Cardiff.

After buying American rotisserie restaurant chain Kenny Rogers Roasters, Tan removed the bewhiskered country music legend's image from the company's logo with all the enthusiasm he showed when turning the Bluebirds red. A sideman memorably explained that "we are moving away from the face."

Ironic then that gambler Malky appears to have decided to hold 'em rather than fold 'em, despite Tan's ultimatum.

TIMSPIRATION

Former Blackburn team-mate Kevin Gallacher was effusive in his praise of Tim Sherwood when he was named caretaker Spurs manager, calling him "an organiser, someone you looked up to... He did inspirational things."

And what were these outstanding examples of leadership and vision?

Explained Gallacher: “I remember after we played Wimbledon once he said, ‘Let’s see the Naseem Hamed fight in New York’. We jumped on Concorde. He would do things like that off the top of his head.

“Chris Sutton came to the club, Tim walked in and said, ‘Let’s go and test drive a Bentley’. Chris Sutton bought one. You didn’t know what he was going to do and all of a sudden he would pop up with an idea.”

Translation: Rich man got other rich men to buy stuff. Inspirational.

ZAP'S A COINCIDENCE

Obscure website Zapzsports.com has spent much of the week pushing one candidate to be Tottenham's next manager, with several stories quoting the likes of Sir Alan Sugar, Gary Lineker, Ossie Ardiles, Clive Allen and Peter Taylor all saying Glenn Hoddle should get the nod.

Totally unrelated fact: Zapzsports.com is co-owned by Glenn Hoddle.

THE COST OF SUCCESS

The sight of Luis Suarez celebrating his new Liverpool contract with a trolleyfull of lager in the local Costco brings back memories of another Suarez spotting back in April.

Wrote our spy then: “Was just behind Luis Suarez in the queue at Tesco on Mather Avenue. He was buying a load of sweets.

“The lad on checkout virtually ignored him. When Suarez had left and it was my turn, I said to the lad 'That was Luis Suarez!' and he replied 'Yeah, I know. He's in here buying sweets more often than I clock on.

Nobody's arsed about it any more.’”

LIB-BLUE-RY

Birmingham City fans are up in arms after the local council decided to light up its new £189million library in Aston Villa's claret and blue for Christmas.

No doubt they would have been even more annoyed had they been in Stoke on Saturday, where the away fans referred to Blues' original name by chanting "The library is ours, the library is ours. F*** off Small Heath, the library is ours."

CAPITAL GAINS

Season of goodwill? All humbug to the Scrooges of Manchester United.

Perhaps mindful of their lowly league position and the fact that fans are facing six games in 18 days at the most expensive time of year, Sunderland pegged ticket prices for their Capital One Cup semi-final first leg against David Moyes's side at just £20, with competition rules meaning that United fans will pay the same.

And how much are Black Cats supporters being asked to fork out a trip to the Theatre Of Dreams in the second leg? A very reasonable £45-£55.

Still,that Glazer debt's not going to pay itself off...

WICKED WHISPER

Which sozzled Premier League legend couldn't understand why the takeaway he'd stumbled into couldn't serve him four steak and kidney pies... even when it was pointed out that he was in a Chinese?

MIRROR IMAGE

Kevin Kilbane - Lloyd Christmas (Dumb and Dumber)

FOOTBALL GAFFES

Heard a gaffe? Tweet it using #FootballGaffes or email

steve.anglesey@trinitymirror.co.uk

"Any side in the world would miss Bareth Gale" - DAVID PLEAT

"There’s Thierry Henry, exploding like the French train that he is" - DAVID PLEAT

"I saw a defeat coming when they went 3-0 down" - DAVID PLEAT

"When I joined Liverpool as a schoolboy, I was still at school" - STEVE McMANAMAN

"They've had three wins under Tony Pulis, although one of them was under Keith Millen" - KEVIN KILBANE

"Chester is about five-foot-eleven or five-foot-twelve" - SAM MATTERFACE

"This isn't a night to judge players, but Anderson has been disappointing" - ALAN SMITH

OVERHEARD...

Tell us the funniest things you’ve overheard either said or shouted at football. Tweet your stories using #FootballOH or email steve.anglesey@trinitymirror.com

From @hillmania: QPR on Saturday. When the squirrel ran on the pitch, the home fans started singing "There's only one Luis Suarez."

From Ian Ball, via email: At the recent Cardiff v Arsenal game, Olivier Giroud took a shot that went high and well wide of the Cardiff goal, but he complained to the ref repeatedly for a corner, unsuccessfully. A voice in the crowd behind me sang “Chim-Chimney Chim-Chimney Chim-Chim Giroud, May I suggest, Specsavers for you?"

From @RyanTahmassebi: West Ham fans at 3-0 down to United chanting "You're nothing special, We get beat every week."

From John Turner, via email: At Old Trafford when Anderson was brought on as a substitute. "See you're still on the McDonald's diet then."

From @Neshflanders: Random bloke sitting behind us at Sunderland shouts to Danny Rose, "Danny, you can stay at mine" for no apparent reason!

From @baj1983: Bury fan to Gary Brabin after a terrible debut "You belong on sand, Brabin."

And from @GNev2 - yes, that's the real Gary Neville: "You're just a s**t Phil Neville!"